[xJones]

The Russians weren't wearing summer uniforms, they were well prepared for their awful winter, and the Russian winter of 1941 was the coldest in that century. The snow began falling on Sept. 12, and slowed the German advance. The Germans were counting on their tanks, and almost all the roads in Russia were dirt and turned into a sticky black gumbo when wet. The Russians were well aware of this, but the Wehrmacht was trusting on a quick victory which didn't happen thanks alone to Russian courage.

Operation Barbarossa dragged on until 1943 and was ham-strung by Field Marshal Goering's inability to air-lift sufficient supplies to the German troops. And a frustrated Hitler assumed military command of the 'Russian Front' and made some incredibly bad decisions. Plus, Stalin was receiving information by spies which gave him, among other things, the German battle plans for what became the world's biggest tank battle at Kursk

But in the final analysis, it was the determination of the Russian people to fight back - no matter what - that turned the tide.

As a German officer wrote in his diary:

At Stalingrad, the Wehrmarcht had met its match. The soldiers had an uneasy feeling they were fighting men of nearly superhuman strength and resilience. The wounded Russian rarely cried out. Hoffman, a German officer, confided to his diary that Russian's displayed an "insane stubbornness." He said they are, "fanatics...wild beasts...not men, but some kind of cast iron creatures; they never get tired and are not afraid of fire."

Yes, those untermenschen Slavs took on the German soldiers and tore them apart. click

[Diplomat]

It wasn't the weather that caused the nazi defeat it was the T-34. Without it, the Russians end up half or totally conquered.

With regard to Russian bravery at Stalingrad; these poor kids that were ferried across the Volga were given the choice of dying by Russian bullets or German bullets. It was that simple. Heck, most didn't even get a weapon, they were told to take it off the dead who fall in front of them. I believe that movie about a German and Russian sniper gives a gripping potrayal of this reality as part of teh backdrop to their story.

I'd like to see Putin tell the truth about why the Russians were so brave, the murdering commissars. Obviously the notion that Russia liberated 11 countries is the continued denial by Russia at the extent of their own evil. And I will use the word evil, because that is what it was.

Although I am convinced the T-34 was the difference, I also believe that had the Russians been a good and noble people, instead of a strong and brave people, they wouldn't have suffered as much as they did and they certainly wouldn't have acted with an absolute reckless regard for life.